R. F. FOSTER 
532 MONRO 
BROOKLYN 




■■■IMHHHHH 



PIRATE BRIDGE 

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT OF 

AUCTION BRIDGE 

WITH THE FULL CODE OF 

THE OFFICIAL LAWS 



B Y 



R. 



FOSTER 



PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS 
FIVE COPIES FOR ONE DOLLAR 



VANITY FAIR PUBLISHING CO. 
449 FOURTH AVENUE. NEW YORK 



MR. R. F. FOSTER 

probably the be£t known card authority 
in America, contributes an article on 

PIRATE BRIDGE 

every month, to the pages of 

VANITY FAIR 

tj No devotee of Pirate should fail to fol- 
low these articles closely, as the science and 
tactics of the game are in them simply, 
agreeably and yet scientifically laid bare. 
<JThe fir^t of Mr. Foster's articles ap- 
peared in the January issue of VANITY 
FAIR. Send 25c. for that number and 
25c. each for the six subsequent issues in 
order to follow his series of articles in their 
entirety. The seven issues and a copy of 
this booklet will be sent on receipt of $2. 

VANITY I^ATR 

449 Fourth Avenue, New York City 

CONDE NAST .... Publisher 
FRANK CROWNINSHIELD . . . Editor 



COPYRIGHT, 1916 

By R. F. Foster 
(AH Rights Reserved) 




A DESCRIPTION OF 
PIRATE BRIDGE 

The game is played by four persons, using 
two full packs of 52 cards each, which rank 
from the ace, king, queen down to the deuce in 
play; but in cutting the ace is the lowest card. 
A table is complete with six players, four of 
whom are active. 

CUTTING 

Candidates for play cut from the same pack 
for the choice of seats and cards. The lowest 
cut takes his seat, and the next lowest sits on 
his left, and so on, round the table. If cards 
of equal value are cut, the spade has the pref- 
erence, then hearts, diamonds and clubs. 

The player sitting opposite the dealer shuffles 
the still pack and places it on his right, ready 
for the next deal. The cards are dealt one at 
a time, from left to right, until each player has 
thirteen, but no trump is turned. 



BIDDING 

The dealer has the first opportunity to bid or 
pass. He may name any suit, or no trump, 
and bid to win any number of tricks over the 
book, or first six, from one to seven. If the 
dealer passes without a bid, each player in turn 
to the left has the opportunity to bid or pass. 
The usual form is, "One heart," or, "I pass." 

The moment a bid is made by any player in 
his proper turn, each in turn to his left must 
either accept it or pass. No bid can be raised, 
overcalled, or doubled, until it has been 
accepted. The player who accepts the bidder 
signifies his willingness to become the dummy 
partner in that declaration, without changing 
his position at the table in any way. The cor- 
rect form is, "I accept." 

The moment a bid is accepted and the part- 
nership established, it becomes the privilege of 
each player in turn to the left, including the one 
whose bid has just been accepted, to bid higher 
or pass; but either of the pair opposed to the 
established partnership can double, after which 
the bidder or his partner can redouble in their 
turn. 

When a bid and acceptance has been over- 
called, the new bid must be accepted before 

JAN -5 1917 77 ' 

_____ ::; ~^> a ^ ,m 



any further bidding can take place. If it is not 
accepted, the bidding returns automatically to 
the last acceptance. The player sitting to the 
left of the one whose bid has not been accepted 
by anybody, may then declare himself, and if 
he is not accepted by anybody, the one on his 
left again may declare himself, but a player 
whose bid is not accepted cannot bid again 
until some other bid is made by another 
player. 

This rule applies equally to the first bid of 
all, which becomes void if not accepted, the 
right to bid passing to the left. The object of 
this rule is to prevent players from making rash 
or shut-out bids, which will be declared void if 
not accepted, and also to prevent an opponent 
of a concluded partnership from shutting out a 
legitimate bid that might be made on his left if 
he passed. 

If no bid is made by any of the four players, 
or if no bid that is made is accepted, the deal is 
void and passes to the left. 

A double reopens the bidding, but it cannot 
be " accepted." The pro tern partner of the 
doubler can bid himself out of it if he can get an 
acceptor; if not, it comes back to the accepted 
bid, doubled. 

[3] 



LEADING AND DUMMY 



The player to the left of the declarer leads 
for the first trick, unless that person happens to 
be the dummy, in which case the player to his 
left leads. Dummy's hand is laid down the 
moment the first card is led, regardless of its 
position at the table, so that it may be on the 
right or left or opposite the declarer's hand. 

THE DECLARER 

The declarer is always the player whose 
accepted bid is the final declaration, no matter 
who first named that suit. If A and B are sit- 
ting opposite each other and A bids a spade, 
passed by Y and accepted by B, if Z then 
bids two spades and A accepts him, Z plays 
the combined hands, with A for his dummy, if 
that is the final declaration. 

SCORING 

If the declarer succeeds in his contract, he 
scores the trick values below the line toward 
game and the honors above the line, as at 
auction. When he reaches or passes 30 points 

[4] 



in tricks he draws a line under it as a game won, 
and adds 50 bonus in honors. 

His acceptor, or dummy, scores nothing toward 
game, but adds to his honor score the total of 
the points won by the declarer. If the contract 
makes four odd in spades, with four honors, the 
declarer scores 36 below the line, 36 above the 
line for honors, and 50 above for winning the 
game. His acceptor scores the same amount 
(122), but it all goes above the line, with the 
honors. 

The first player to win two games wins the 
rubber. In addition to the 50 points for winning 
the second game, he adds 50 for the rubber, 
but his acceptor does not share in this additional 
50 rubber points, although he scores the usual 
50 for winning the game. 

The scores must be kept in four columns, one 
for each player. The suit values are the same 
as at auction, 6 for clubs, 7 for diamonds, 8 for 
hearts, 9 for spades and 10 for no trumps. 
These may be doubled and redoubled. The 
honors and method of scoring them are the same 
as at auction. They cannot be doubled. 

The usual penalties for failure to make the 
contract obtain, 50 for each undertrick, 100 if 
doubled, 200 if redoubled. The declarer adds 
50 in honors if he makes his contract after being 

[51 



doubled, 1 00 if he has redoubled, and the same 
amounts for each trick over the contract. These 
extra points are all credited to his acceptor in 
the honor column. 

REVOKES 

The laws of auction relating to the revoke 
have been handed down to us from the 1 8th 
century, almost without change. At that time 
many players considered it perfectly proper to 
revoke if they thought their opponents would 
not notice it. Even in the official laws of 
auction for 1 9 1 7 we find under the head of 
Etiquette, No. 6, a suggestion that one should 
not commit such an offence just because one is 
willing to pay the penalty, nor make a second 
revoke to conceal the first, as if such practices 
were still common. 

The fact is that among modern players the 
revoke is invariably an accident, due to care- 
lessness in sorting the cards, and very rarely 
makes the slightest difference in the result. 

In pirate bridge all the complications about 
taking tricks or points for revokes, getting or not 
getting bonuses, etc., have been done away 
with, and the entire matter simplified by making 
the revoke penalty a straight 50 points for each 

[6] 



revoke. The penalty is doubled (or redoubled) 
if the contract has been doubled (or redoubled). 

The penalty falls upon both of the revoking 
players. For instance, if either A or B revoke, 
Y and Z each score 50 points above the line. 
If a revoke is made in the dummy hand there 
is no penalty for either of the partners. 

SETTLING 

At the end of a rubber the individual total 
scores are found, and the nearest 25, 50, or 
1 00 taken as the result, according to the custom 
of the club. (The nearest 100 is, of course, 
the simplest and best way). Each then pays to 
each the difference. 

Suppose the final score is A 158; B 380; 
C 792, and D 420. If we are counting in 
hundreds, this result becomes : 2, 4, 8, 4, and 
as the lowest score must lose to each of the 
others we find that A loses 2, 6, and 2, leaving 
him minus 10. B wins 2 from A, loses 4 to 
C, and ties with D, leaving him minus 2. As 
C wins from each of the others, he gets 6 from 
A, 4 from B and 4 from D, making him 1 4 
plus. D wins 2 from A, and loses 4 to C, 
while he ties with B. This leaves him minus 
2. The whole score, with this accounting, 
would appear thus : 

[7] 



A 


B 


C 


D 


158 

2 


380 
4 


792 
8 


420 
4 


—2 
—6 
—2 


+2 
—4 


+6 
+4 
+4 


+2 
—4 


— 10 


—2 


+ 14 


—2 



Another method is to call the lowest score 
nothing and deduct it from each of the higher 
scores, as all are plus. Then add the total 
winnings of the three, and deduct this total 
from each after multiplying his score by four. 
It is not necessary to put down the 4, as a 



multiplier, but 


only the 


result, thus : 




A 


B 


C 


D 


158 


380 


792 


420 


2 


4 


8 


4 





+ 2 


+ 6 


+ 2 


4 times : 


+ 8 


+24 


+ 8 


less: 10 


—10 


— 10 


—10 



— 10 —2 +14 —2 



The players may attach any value they 
please to the points, and enter the gains and 

[8] 



losses on a wash-book as usual, to be settled at 
the end of the session. 



LAWS 

All the regulations for minor offenses in bid- 
ding and play will be found fully dealt with in 
the official laws of the game, which follow. 
These laws are naturally founded upon those of 
Auction Bridge except in matters that require a 
consideration of the individual character of the 
play, and that partners are not responsible for 
each other's errors until the final bid is made 
and accepted. 



[9] 



w 



THE LAWS OF 
PIRATE BRIDGE 

(Copyright, 1916, by R. F. Foster) 
(All Rights Reserved) 

FORMING TABLES 

1 . Those first in the room shall have the right 
to play the first rubber, candidates of equal 
standing deciding their order by cutting. If a 
player exposes more than one card, the highest 
is his cut. A table is complete with six players, 
four of whom are active in each rubber. 

2. Players wishing to enter an incomplete 
table must signify their intention before the cards 
are cut for the next rubber. Those who have 
played the greatest number of consecutive rub- 
bers retire. Equalities are decided by cutting, 
the highest going out. 

3. In making up new tables, those who have 
not played at other tables have the prior right. 
If a player who is cut out of another table helps 

[10] 



to make up a new table that cannot be formed 
without him, he shall be the last to cut out at 
the new table and may retain his position at the 
first table by announcing his return to it as soon 
as his position can be filled at the new table ; 
but any player leaving one table to enter another 
that can be formed without him, loses his rights 
at the first table. 

4. Any player who is compelled to leave a 
table during a rubber may appoint a substitute, 
but such appointment ends with the rubber and 
does not affect the substitute's rights for entry 
into the next rubber. Should one player break 
up a table, the others have the prior right of 
entry elsewhere. 

CUTTING AND DEALING 

5. The four active players cut for the first 
deal and choice of seats and cards. Low wins. 
The lowest having made his selection the others 
sit in order to his left, according to the rank of 
their cards. All cut from the same pack. 

6. In cutting, the ace is low. If cards of 
equal value are cut, the spade shall have the 
preference, hearts next, then diamonds. In 
cutting for seats, if a player exposes more 
than one card, he must cut again. 

[11] 



7. After the first deal, the player sitting 
opposite the dealer shall collect the cards of the 
still pack for the next deal, shuffle them, and 
place them on his right. When this pack is 
brought into play, any one at the table has the 
right to shuffle it, the dealer last. The deal 
passes to the left. If new cards are called for 
at any time, two packs must be provided and 
the next dealer takes his choice. 

8. The dealer must present the pack to the 
player on his right to be cut and at least four 
cards must be left in each packet. If any card 
is exposed, or the place of cutting is uncertain, 
the dealer must reshuffle and present the pack 
again. Should the dealer reshuffle after a proper 
cut, any other player may demand a shuffle. 

9. The cards shall be dealt from left to right, 
one at a time, and the deal is complete when 
the last card falls in its proper place to the 
dealer. 

1 0. No matter what irregularities occur, the 
deal is not lost. There must be a new deal if 
it is made with the wrong cards; if the pack 
has not been properly cut ; if any card is found 
faced in the pack; if each player does not 
receive the right number of cards, one at a 
time ; or if the pack is proved incorrect or im- 



[12] 



perfect by reason of missing or superfluous 
cards, or cards so marked or torn that they may 
be recognized by the back. 

1 1 . A player dealing out of turn, or with 
the wrong pack, must be stopped before the 
last card is dealt, or the deal stands, and the 
protest must be made by a player who has not 
lifted or looked at any of his cards. When a 
deal out of turn stands, the next deal passes to 
the left ; but if it was made with the wrong 
cards, the next dealer may take his choice. 

12. Any player who lifts and looks at any 
of his cards before the deal is complete shall 
forfeit 25 points in honors to each of the others 
for each card so looked at. 

13. If the pack is proved to be imperfect 
before the cards are cut for the following deal, 
or the score of the rubber made up and agreed 
to, the deal with the imperfect pack is void, 
but all previous scores or cutting made with 
that pack shall stand. 

14. If any player have less than thirteen 
cards, the others having their right number, that 
card must be found if the deal was apparently 
regular, or he will be responsible for any 
revokes, just as if the card had been in his 
hand. If two players have a wrong number, 

[13] 



the fifty-two cards being in evidence, the deal 
is void. 

THE DECLARATIONS 

15. The dealer, after examining his hand, 
may name any suit, or no trump, declaring to 
win any number of tricks from one to seven 
over his book. [The declarer's book is the 
first six tricks he wins. His opponent's book is 
the difference between the contract and seven.] 
If the dealer passes, each player to the left in 
turn may then bid or pass. 

1 6. If any player makes a bid, each in turn 
to the left may accept him as a partner or 
pass, the phrase being, " I accept," or, " I 
accept two hearts, " or, "I pass." 

1 7. There shall be no further bidding and no 
doubling until the bidder has been accepted. 
Any player making a bid out of turn or before 
the previous bid has been accepted, shall forfeit 
his right to bid until the current bid has been 
accepted (or becomes void) and another bid is 
made by some other player ; but he may accept 
this new bid. 

18. If no one will accept the first bid made, 
it is void, and the player to the left of the bidder 
may declare himself ; but no player whose bid 
[ H] 



has not been accepted can bid again until some 
other player's bid is accepted, but he may be 
the acceptor of another's bid. If no one can 
make a bid of any sort, or if none of the bids 
made is accepted, the deal is void and passes 
to the left. 

19. As soon as a bid is accepted, any player 
in turn to the left, including the bidder who has 
just been accepted, may bid higher or pass. If 
he is not the bidder or acceptor, he may double. 
An acceptor cannot overcall his own acceptance 
if no accepted bid or double has intervened. 

20. An equal number of tricks in diamonds 
will outbid clubs ; hearts outrank diamonds, and 
spades outrank hearts, no trumps outrank any 
suit. A larger number of tricks in any suit will 
outrank a smaller number in anything ; so that 
four clubs is better than three no trumps. 

2 1 . After a bid is made and accepted, if any 
higher bid is made and not accepted, that bid 
is void and the bid returns to the last acceptance. 
The player whose bid is not accepted cannot 
bid again unless some player to his left can make 
an acceptable bid. If no such bid is made and 
accepted, the bidding is closed, the last accept- 
ance becoming the winning declaration. 

22. A slip of the tongue may be corrected 

[ 15] 



before the next player declares himself, sueh as 
two hearts, when two spades was meant, but 
the size of the bid may not be changed, and a 
pass, double, or acceptance cannot be recalled. 
An insufficient declaration must be made suffi- 
cient provided attention is called to it before the 
next player declares himself, otherwise it stands, 
and may be accepted. 

23. Any player may be informed as to what 
the previous bids have been, and who accepted 
them, but after the final bid has been accepted 
and the first card led, any such information shall 
be given under a penalty of 50 points in honors* 
to be scored by each of the other players. 

DOUBLING 

24. No player may double his own or his 
partner's bid, nor redouble his partner's double or 
redouble an opponent's redouble, under penalty 
of 25 points for a double, or 50 for a redouble 
scored by each of the others. 

25. When a bid has been accepted, either of 
the opponents, in his proper turn, may double, 
and then either the bidder or his acceptor in his 
proper turn may redouble, but that ends it. The 
penalty for doubling out of turn is the same as 
for a bid out of turn. [See Law 1 7.] 

[16] 



26. A double reopens the bidding, as it cannot 
be accepted. Doubling does not affect the rank 
of the bids, so that three hearts doubled, or even 
redoubled, may still be overcalled with three 
spades. 

27. When a doubled or redoubled declara- 
tion is played, the value of the tricks and revoke 
penalty is doubled or redoubled, but not the 
honors, nor slams. 

THE PLAY 

28. No matter what the previous bids have 
been, nor by whom made, the player who makes 
the final accepted bid becomes the declarer and 
plays the combined hands, his acceptor becom- 
ing the dummy, without changing his position at 
the table. 

29. The player to the left of the declarer 
leads for the first trick, unless that person hap- 
pens to be dummy, in which case the player to 
his left leads. As soon as the first card is led, 
the acceptor's cards are laid down, sorted into 
suits and face up, and they may be immediately 
to the right or left of the declarer, or opposite 
him, according to the position occupied by the 
acceptor. 

30. If the wrong player leads for the first 
trick, not being dummy, the declarer may either 

[ 17] 



accept the lead or prevent the rightful leader 
from leading that suit ; or, he may call the erro- 
neous lead an exposed card. 

3 1 . Each player in turn to the left must follow 
suit if he can, or he is responsible for a revoke. 
Having none of the suit led, he may trump or 
discard at pleasure. 

ERRORS IN PLAY 

32. If either adversary of the declarer leads 
when it is his partner's turn, the declarer may 
call the card exposed and demand it be left on 
the table subject to call ; or he may call a suit 
from the proper leader, in which case the card 
led in error shall be taken up. If either declarer 
or dummy play to the incorrect lead, it stands 
without penalty. If both adversaries lead at the 
same instant, the correct lead stands ; the other 
is an exposed card. 

33. If it is the turn of neither opponent to 
lead, when one of them does so, a suit may be 
called as soon as either regains the lead, the card 
led in error being left on the table as a marker 
until the declarer decides whether to call that 
card or call a suit, but he cannot do both. 

34. If the declarer leads out of turn, either 
from his own hand or dummy, he cannot correct 

[18] 



the error unless directed to do so by an adver- 
sary. If either adversary plays to the lead with- 
out correcting it, it stands. 

35. If a player who is called upon to lead a 
suit have none of it, no other suit can be called, 
and he may lead as he pleases. 

36. Should one adversary play to a trick 
when it is his partner's turn, the one who has 
not played may be called upon for his highest or 
lowest card of the suit, or to win or not to win 
the trick. If he has none of the suit led, he may 
be called upon to discard his highest card in any 
suit the declarer names. If he has none of that 
suit either, the penalty is paicf. If the declarer 
plays from both hands without waiting for the 
opponent between, either of them may play first. 

37. If any one but dummy fails to play to a 
trick and it is not corrected before the same 
player has played to the next trick, the side not 
in error may demand a new deal. If the deal is 
allowed to stand, the superfluous card at the end 
belongs to the imperfect trick, but is not a revoke. 

38. If two or more cards are played to the 
same trick by any one except dummy, and the 
mistake is not discovered and corrected before 
playing to the next trick, the player in error is 
responsible for revokes, just as if he still held one 

[19] 



of those cards in hand, and the adversaries have 
the option of a new deal. If he announces the 
shortage before the deal is played out, he may 
search the tricks and turn up the one containing 
five cards, restoring his own card to his hand to 
save any further revokes. Either of the partners 
not in error may decide, without consultation, 
which card shall be withdrawn, but the trick 
remains as won. 

39. Any player looking at a trick that has 
been properly turned down and quitted by the 
rightful winners, except under Law 38, shall 
forfeit 25 points in honors to each of the others. 

40. If either adversary calls attention to a 
trick before his partner plays, by saying it is his, 
or indicating his card, the declarer may call upon 
the partner to play his highest or lowest of the 
suit, or to win or lose the trick. Any player 
may ask the cards to be placed before those 
who played them. 

4 1 . Either adversary may prevent his partner 
from leading out of turn, but should he call 
attention to any incident of the play the declarer 
may call a suit from the one whose next turn it 
will be to lead. 

42. If an adversary name a card in his own 
or his partner's hand, or make any remark that 

[20] 



would locate a card or cards in any hand but 
dummy's, such cards shall be placed on the table 
as exposed if held by the adversaries. If held 
by the declarer, he may call a suit. 

EXPOSED CARDS 

43. If any player exposes a card after the 
deal and before the end of the bidding, each 
of the others shall score 25 in honors. Should 
the player in error eventually prove to be an 
opponent of the declarer's, but not the leader 
for the first trick, the declarer may prevent the 
initial lead of the exposed suit. If the player 
in error becomes the declarer or his acceptor, 
there is no penalty. 

44. If a card is exposed after the winning 
declaration has been settled, and before play 
begins, the declarer may call it exposed and 
subject to call, or he may call a suit if it is the 
partner's turn to lead for the first trick. The 
declarer may expose any or all his own cards 
without penalty. 

45. If, during the play, a card is dropped 
face upward on the table by an adversary, even 
if no one can name it, or if it is so held that the 
partner can see any portion of its face, it is an 
exposed card and subject to call by the de- 

[21] 



clarer. If two or more cards are played to the 
same trick, the declarer may choose which shall 
be played, the others are exposed. 

46. Cards dropped on the floor or below 
the table are not exposed cards ; neither are 
cards shown to the declarer or dummy, but not 
to the partner. 

47. A card detached from the hand of the 
declarer is not played until it is placed face up- 
ward on the table and the fingers removed 
from it. 

48. If an adversary expose his last card be- 
fore his partner has played to the twelfth trick, 
both cards in the partner's hand shall be placed 
on the table and subject to call. 

49. If one adversary continue to lead cards 
one after another that neither declarer nor 
dummy can win, without waiting for the partner 
to play, the partner may be called upon to win, 
if he can, any one of those tricks. If the part- 
ner can win such a trick, the other premature 
leads become exposed cards. 

50. If an adversary abandons his hand, all 
the cards in it become exposed, but the partner 
may hold his. If the declarer at any time claims 
the rest of the tricks, or names the number he 
will win, his cards must be placed face upward 



[22] 



on the table and played without any finesse 
not absolutely proved to be a winner. Any 
cards exposed by his adversaries in consequence 
of his assertion cannot be called. Tricks con- 
ceded in error by either side must stand. 

5 1 . The call for an exposed card may be 
repeated by the declarer until it can be played, 
but no one can be compelled to play a card 
that would cause him to revoke. 

THE REVOKE 

52. Each player in turn must follow suit if he 
can, or it is a revoke. If dummy revokes, 
there is no penalty. A revoke is established as 
soon as the trick in which it occurs is turned and 
quitted by the rightful winners, or when the 
player in error, or his partner, whether in his 
right turn or not, leads or plays to the following 
trick. Any refusal to comply with a performable 
penalty is also a revoke. 

53. The penalty for a revoke, when claimed 
and proved, shall be 50 points in the honor 
column, to be scored by each of the partners 
opposed to the revoking side. If the declarer 
revokes, his acceptor is liable to the penalty for 
their side, but neither declarer nor acceptor 

[23] 



can be penalized for any revokes made by the 
dummy, as those cards are exposed. 

54. If the contract has been doubled or 
redoubled, the revoke penalty is also doubled 
or redoubled. 

55. Before the trick is turned and quitted any 
player may ask his partner if he has none of the 
suit to which he renounces. Subsequent turning 
and quitting does not establish the revoke unless 
the question is answered in the negative, or the 
player in error leads or plays to the following trick. 

56. Should dummy leave the table during 
the play, he may ask the courtesy of the table to 
protect him from revokes by the declarer during 
his absence. 

57. If a revoke is corrected in time, the 
players who have followed may withdraw their 
cards and substitute others without penalty. 
When a revoke by an adversary is corrected, 
the declarer may either call the cards played in 
error exposed, or he may ask for the highest or 
lowest of the suit to be played to the current trick. 

58. If the declarer corrects his revoke there 
is no penalty unless both adversaries have played 
to the trick and the declarer is not the last 
player. If dummy is still to play, the opponents 

[24] 



may call upon the declarer for his highest or 
lowest of the suit when he corrects his revoke. 

59. Revokes must be claimed and proved 
before the cards are cut for the following deal 
or rubber, or before the final score of the rubber 
is made up and agreed to. 

60. If more than one revoke is made by the 
same partners, the penalty is 50 for each, but 
if both sides revoke, the one oftener than the 
other, the difference only is scored. 

DUMMY 

61. As soon as the first card is led by the 
proper player the acceptor's cards are placed 
face upward on the table in front of him, sorted 
into suits, trumps to the right, if any, and the 
declarer then plays all cards from that hand. 

62. Until his hand is laid down, the acceptor 
has all the rights of any other player and may 
call attention to a lead from the wrong hand, 
exposed cards, etc., but after his cards are laid 
down he takes no part in the play except as 
follows : 

(a) He may call attention to too many or too few cards 
in a trick, or to a trick taken by the wrong side. 

(b) He may ask his partner if he has none of the suit led. 

(c) He may correct an improper demand for a penalty. 

[25 ] 



(d) He may take part in any dispute which he did not 
himself begin. 

(e) He may call attention to an adverse revoke after it 
is established, or to exposed cards or leads out of 
turn ; but only on condition that he has not delib- 
erately overlooked the hand of either adversary. 

(f) He may also remind the declarer of any rights he 
may have under the laws, or insist that a hand be 
played out, instead of conceding tricks. 

(g) After the play, he may consult with his partner as 
to which penalty to exact for a revoke, and may 
correct any error in the score. 

63. If dummy call attention to any other inci- 
dent of the play for which the declarer might 
have exacted a penalty, the penalty cannot be 
demanded. 

64. If dummy suggests the play of any card, 
as by touching one of his own or naming one 
of the declarer's, either adversary may demand 
that such card shall or shall not be played to 
the current trick. 

65. If dummy tries to prevent the declarer 
from leading from the wrong hand, either ad- 
versary may insist that the lead shall come from 
that hand. 

66. Should the declarer name or touch any 
card in the dummy without first announcing that 
he is arranging the hand, that card must be 



[26] 



played. If he touches more than one, he may 
play either. 

67. In all cases in which declarer or dummy 
is liable to a penalty, either adversary may de- 
mand it, or direct his partner to do so, but they 
may not consult, nor even ask which of them 
shall enforce it. 

SCORING 

68. An individual score shall be kept for 
each of the four players. All tricks over the 
declarer's book count toward his contract. 
When this is fulfilled, he scores for each trick 
over his book, 6 points if clubs are trumps ; 
7 if diamonds ; 8 if hearts ; 9 if spades, and 1 
if no trumps. These values may be doubled or 
redoubled. 

69. When the declarer reaches or passes 
30 points, made by tricks alone, he wins a 
game, draws a line under it and adds 50 
points in the honor column. Every hand is 
played out, and all tricks over the contract or 
beyond the game are scored. 

70. Only the individual declarer can score 
below the line toward game, but the total value 
of all the points he wins, except the final 50 

[27] 



for the rubber, are credited to his acceptor in 
the honor column. 

71. The first player to win two games wins 
the rubber, for which he receives 50 points in 
addition to the regular 50 for winning a game; 
but this additional 50 is not credited to his 

acceptor. 

72. If the partners win thirteen tricks they 
each score 1 00 for grand slam. If they win 
twelve, they score 50 for little slam, whether 
they are the declarers or not. These values 
are not affected by doubling. If the declaration 
is seven and only six by cards is made, the little 
slam is still scored. 

73. The honors are the ace, king, queen, 
jack, ten, of the trump suit, or the four aces at 
no trump. Three honors between partners are 
equal in value to two tricks in that suit, such as 
12 points if clubs are trumps. Four honors 
between partners are worth four tricks ; five are 
worth five tricks. Four or five in one hand are 
worth double. Four in one hand, fifth in the 
partner's, are worth nine tricks, such as 81 if 
spades were trumps. AH honors are scored 
above the line and are not affected by 
doubling. Honors are credited to the original 
holders. 



L 28] 



74. Three aces at no trump are worth 30 ; 
four aces between partners, 40 ; but four in 
one hand are worth 1 00. 

75. If the declarer fulfils his contract after 
being doubled he adds a bonus of 50 points in 
honors, and 50 more for each trick over his 
contract, if any. This bonus is increased to 
100 if the contract was redoubled. 

76. If the contract fails, the adversaries score 
nothing toward game, but they take 50 points 
in honors for each trick over their book ; that 
is, for each undertrick of the declarer's. This 
will be 100 if they have doubled; 200 if 
redoubled. 

77. In case of revokes, the penalty is 50 
points for each, 1 00 if doubled, 200 if redou- 
bled, for either side. 

78. Any error in the honor score must be 
claimed and proved before the score for the 
rubber is made up and agreed upon. An error 
in the trick score must be corrected before the 
first bid is made on the following deal ; or if 
there is no such deal, before the rubber score is 
agreed to. 

79. At the end of the rubber, all the scores 
are added and each player pays to or receives 

[29] 



from each of the others the difference between 
his total and theirs. 

80. If the play is started with the under- 
standing that it shall stop at a certain hour, and 
the current rubber is not finished at that time, 
there shall be no further dealing, and the score 
shall be made up as it stands. If there has been 
no such understanding and one of the players 
leaves the game without providing a substitute, 
his opponents may make up the score as it stands 
or cancel it entirely for the current rubber. 



[30] 



THE ORIGIN OF PIRATE BRIDGE 

The game of Pirate Bridge began in the fol- 
lowing way : 

Aleister Crowley, the English writer, who 
chanced to be in America during the autumn of 
1916, invented the idea of the game while 
playing triple dummy during a rainy week in 
New Hampshire. The central idea of his 
invention was of course that, instead of cutting 
for partners and keeping them for an entire 
rubber, the partners might be changed before 
every hand. 

On Novemher 1st, 1916, Mr. Crowley 
brought his idea to the office of VANITY FAIR 
in New York. The editor of the magazine 
saw that the game had possibilities, and sug- 
gested the name for it of Pirate Bridge. He 
and Mr. Crowley went, that same evening, to 

[31 ] 



The Coffee House Club, where they laid out 
several double dummy hands. The editor then 
thought it time to consult Mr, R. F. Foster, 
the well known card authority. 

Mr. Foster, Mr. Crowley and the editor, on 
the afternoon of Friday, November 3d, 1916, 
took the game to the Knickerbocker Whist 
Club, 8 West 40th Street, where Mr. E. T. 
McLaughlin, Mr. E. T. Baker, Mr. G. M. 
Scott and Mr. C. W. Burkhardt, all members 
of the club, cut in and played alternate rubbers. 

At the end of two hours' play the editor was 
so convinced of the future of the game that he 
asked Mr. Foster to draw up a set of rules and 
regulations to govern the game (which rules 
VANITY FAIR would undertake to publish). 
He further begged Mr. Foster to write a series 
of articles to appear in monthly issues of VANITY 
FAIR (beginning in the January number). 

The credit for the original invention of the 
game is, of course, due to Mr. Crowley. The 
credit for the revision of the game, and for the 
preparation of the rules, is due to Mr. Foster. 

The work of rounding out the game, testing 
it with various grades of players, and discussing 
the penalties for irregularities, occupied Mr. 
Foster for three weeks. Finally his scheme was 
considered sufficiently logical to present it to the 
attention of the leading card clubs in New York 
in informal talks, with illustrative hands from 
actual play. 

This, in brief, was the genesis of the game of 
Pirate Bridge. 

[32] 



FROM AUCTION TO PIRATE 

Did you ever switch from Whist to Bridge ? 
Or from Bridge to Auction ? If you did, you 
will switch from Auction to Pirate. 

The Seven Drawbacks of Auction 

First : Mismated partners. You get a fiend for 
a partner and you can't shake him off. 

Second: Mismated hands. The two good heart 
hands never seem to come together. The good spade 
partners are opposed to each other, the no-trumpers are 
also opponents, etc., etc. 

Third: The frequency with which bids are set. In 
actual practice only nine bids out of thirteen are successful 
at auction. 

Fourth : The fact that you are liable all through 
a rubber for your partner's mistakes. 

Fifth: The bickering, fault-finding, nagging, and 
exhibitions of bad temper. 

Sixth : It is not a good game for the gambling type 
of player, as only two people can win — or lose — and 
must always win or lose like amounts. 

Seventh : The fixed position of dummy. 

The Seven Advantages of Pirate 

First: You can — if you are clever — avoid tying your- 
self up with a tedious, poetic, alcoholic or idiotic partner. 

Second : The hands which work best together — in 
any suit — tend to come together. 

Third : Fewer final bids are set back, thus shortening 
the duration and tediousness of every rubber. 

Fourth : Every player is playing for himself. Four 
scores are kept — all of them independent. 

Fifth : Pirate does away with a lot of bickering and 
quarreling. You may blame some one for " accepting " 
you when the hand goes wrong; but you are not tied to 
him for the rubber. 

Sixth : It is a first-rate game for the man who is of 
a gambling temperament. One man may be the only 
winner (or loser). 

Seventh : The constantly changing position of dummy. 




GILBERT T. WASHBl 
Irving Press 

605 FIFTH AVENUE, h 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




029 604 632 2 



